Adapting a popular book into a film is never like shooting fish in a barrel, especially when the story features the death of an iconic character. The Harry Potter series faced this challenge when adapting Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The 6th installment balances dark drama, one-act, and romance better than whatever other book in the series.

The film does a good job capturing this tonal balance from the source material. However, there are some intriguing and noticeable differences betwixt the content of the book and film. Most notably, some characters' roles are expanded while other characters are cut entirely. Check out these changes and more with these 10 differences betwixt The Half-Blood Prince book and flick.

x The Prime number Minister Scene

The first chapter of the novel is told from the perspective of the Muggle Prime Minister. He is visited by the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge throughout the years, particularly to inform him of magical events that impact the Muggle earth. In his final meeting with Fudge, the Prime Minister meets the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour informs the Prime Government minister that events like the collapse of a famous bridge, a vicious hurricane, and two thoroughly publicized murders are actually the piece of work of Voldemort and his followers. The Prime Government minister also learns that his reliable secretary Kingsley Shacklebolt is an Auror who has been placed there for his protection. The Prime Government minister is never shown in the motion-picture show. Instead, the movie shows events like the bridge collapsing that are merely referenced in the Prime Minister's conversation with Scrimgeour.

9 No Dursleys

Every Harry Potter book has Harry stuck at the Dursleys before he enters the magical world. The Half-Blood Prince is no exception, as Harry is at the Dursleys until Albus Dumbledore arrives and takes Harry with him.

The Dursleys don't announced in the film at all, though. Harry is instead seen at a railway station café reading the Daily Prophet and flirting with a waitress earlier Dumbledore arrives and whisks him abroad.

8 Who Rescues Harry From The Hogwarts Express

Draco Malfoy leaves Harry in a Full Torso-Demark Curse and trapped below the Invisibility Cloak aboard the Hogwarts Express. It seems unlikely that anyone will find an invisible and immobilized Harry, and he is powerless to stop the train from taking him back to London.

In the novel, Nymphadora Tonks is the ane to observe Harry in this situation, as she noticed he never got off the railroad train. In the flick, Luna Lovegood finds him every bit she is wearing her spectrespecs and sees Wrackspurts, which makes her realize that at that place must be a person subconscious out of sight.

7 Missing Memories

Dumbledore spends a great deal of time showing Harry a multifariousness of memories via the Pensieve during The One-half-Blood Prince. The moving picture includes the memory of Dumbledore meeting immature Tom Riddle at the orphanage and Horace Slughorn's retentivity where Riddle asks him most Horcruxes.

The moving-picture show does non include many of the memories that Dumbledore shows Harry in the volume. Viewers don't get to run into the memory at the Gaunt shack featuring Tom Riddle'due south mother Merope Gaunt. They don't get to see Tom Riddle visiting Hepzibah Smith equally she shows him Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin'south locket, nor do they get to come across Voldemort returning to Hogwarts and requesting that he be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

half-dozen When Ron First Becomes The Gryffindor Keeper

Ron first becomes the Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch squad in the volume Harry Potter and the Lodge of the Phoenix. None of the book'southward Quidditch scenes or storylines are included in the film accommodation, though.

Thus, in the films, Ron get-go becomes Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in The Half-Blood Prince. The Gryffindor Quidditch squad tryouts play out the same way in the book and the film. That being said, in that location's a somewhat unlike context surrounding the tryouts in the two mediums, as in the volume Ron has already been on the team and helped them win the Quidditch Cup, while the movie has him fighting to be on the team for the first time.

5 No Scrimgeour

The new Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour is introduced to readers in the opening chapter with the Muggle Prime Minister. He also appears at the Burrow later in the story to meet with Harry in the hopes of working together, although Harry rebukes this offering and puts Scrimgeour in his identify.

Scrimgeour does not announced in the moving picture at all, though. Bill Nighy was bandage to play Scrimgeour in The Half-Blood Prince, but he was cutting from the film and isn't seen in the role until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Office one.

4 Bellatrix And Greyback Attack The Burrow

The motion-picture show includes a sequence where Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback attack the Burrow. Harry chases subsequently Bellatrix and Ginny, Lupin, and Tonks follow to help him. Bellatrix and Greyback Disapparate and on their mode out they set the Burrow on fire.

No such sequence exists in the volume. At that place are many protective enchantments effectually the Couch and in that location is never even a hint of Bellatrix, Greyback, or whatever of Voldemort's other followers getting shut enough to infiltrate the area.

3 How Harry Hides In The Astronomy Tower

Harry is forced to hide while Draco Malfoy and other Death Eaters confront Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, and there is an important departure in how Harry hides in the book versus the motion picture.

In the book, Dumbledore immobilizes Harry with a Full Body-Bind Curse while he'south underneath the Invisibility Cloak. This makes Harry invisible to Draco and the Expiry Eaters and also powerless to move and do anything to aid. In the moving picture, Dumbledore just tells Harry to hibernate. Harry is not invisible or immobilized but simply stays out of sight. Harry and Snape even see each other and Snape motions for him to stay quiet.

2 Bellatrix'south Involvement During The Boxing Of The Astronomy Tower

The simply time Bellatrix appears in The Half-Blood Prince novel is when she and Narcissa become to Snape's house, where Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow. Bellatrix is given a larger role in the film. Not only do she and Greyback attack the Couch, but she is besides amidst the Death Eaters who Draco smuggles into Hogwarts via the Vanishing Cabinet.

Bellatrix is depicted as the Death Eaters' leader during the Boxing of the Astronomy Belfry. She urges Draco to kill Dumbledore and witnesses Snape impale him instead. She also lays waste matter to parts of Hogwarts, sets Hagrid's hut on fire, and attacks Harry earlier Snape tells her to leave him lone equally he belongs to the Dark Lord. In the book, it is the Expiry Eater Thorfinn Rowle who sets burn down to Hagrid'due south hut.

1 Dumbledore's Funeral

Readers go to come across Dumbledore's funeral with Hogwarts professors, current and former students, Guild of the Phoenix members, centaurs, Merpeople, Ministry building of Magic officials, and individuals from all walks of life every bit they come to pay their respects to the legendary wizard.

No funeral is shown in the pic, although Dumbledore's tomb is seen at the finish of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part i every bit Voldemort breaks into it to have the Elderberry Wand for himself.

NEXT: The Greatest Wizards And Witches In Harry Potter History (And How They Embody Their Hogwarts Houses)

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Matthew Rudoy (274 Articles Published)

Matthew Rudoy is a freelance author who loves to write about his favorite movies and Television shows. In addition to Screen Rant, he also currently contributes to Dork Side of the Force. He has previously cocky-published two fantasy/sci-fi novels titled CORRUPTION and Devastation. While his favorite movies and TV shows tend to as well fall in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, he enjoys and is open to annihilation that provides an engaging story, strong graphic symbol development, and in-depth earth-edifice. Matthew is grateful for the opportunity to write for Screen Rant and looks forward to continue contributing to the site.

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